Sunday, December 7, 2014

Loving God With Jesus' Simple Faith

God calls us, through Jesus, to love Him with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all of our strength, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

This the core of the selfless and life-giving Gospel given to us by the one God chose and sent out to us, Jesus.

We become whole and complete beings when we serve God and others in His name, and this completes our spirits.

Jesus says we are to come to him like a child:

"But Jesus said, 'Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'" (Matt. 19:14)

Children easily believe, and their love is pure and natural. Children have faith in God, as the Creator and Father of us all.

Childlike obedience, childlike love, childlike trust in God, all lead to a spirituality that leads us into God's presence.

When our spirits are in union with God, we achieve the Spiritual Abundance and wholeness of life God means us to have.

And Jesus showed us, by the example of his life, teachings and death, that we may become spiritually complete and become all God wishes us to be. This is the amazing and glorious gift God has shown us through Jesus.

The Gospel Jesus preached is simple and pure and easily believable:

Love God. Love others. Live Righteously. Serve others. Do Good Works. In this way, we bring in - and actively live in - God's Kingdom.

That is it. Full Stop.

But because we humans like to over-think and over complicate things, we have added much to this Gospel.

Human beings throughout the centuries have polluted this pure message with complicated and confusing doctrines that negate every part of the Gospel.

Did Jesus preach (as later men taught) that all men were born evil, and are unable to obey God? Or did he preach that we had the ability to obey God, and would be judged according to our deeds, and that our acts MUST be righteous?

Did Jesus preach (as later men said) that he was equal to God, and therefore we need only worship his Person in order to be saved? Or did he preach his utter dependence upon God, our Father (and his) and that obedience in righteousness leads to salvation?

Did Jesus preach (as men do) that we must wait for him to come back to earth with an avenging army before the Kingdom of God comes? Or did he preach that we must bring in the Kingdom IMMEDIATELY with our acts of love, compassion and service?

Did Jesus preach (as men do) that we can pray to God to attain material wealth, increase our power over others, and have all our physical desires granted? Or did he call us to seek spiritual treasures from Heaven, and to serve God and others even in our material poverty?

Human beings are capable, thanks to God's gifts, of doing great and amazing things. We send rockets to space, explore the deepest seas, and create works of fiction that amaze and entertain us. But we also create excuses by citing fables that tell us we need NOT do Good Works, actively serve our fellow human beings.

During his ministry, Jesus condemned the doctrines of men, which were being put above the love of God. Men created mythologies and doctrines that put empty ritual and dogma ahead of God's love and our requirement to serve and love others.

Should we be surprised that doctrines of men still dominate the powerful religion of today? These strange doctrines we are taught as "religion" today are encrusted with complicated theologies that defy definition, cleverly devised to keep us from the simple Gospel of Jesus. They are indeed another man's "gospel" and the pure and simple one Jesus left us.

Jesus was given God's message and conveyed it simply and clearly to us.

We must return to the simplicity and child-like faith Jesus left us, putting aside the childishness and foolishness that men require us to believe in its place.